The present invention relates to processing of language in a computer system. More particularly, a method and a system for interactively generating a translation of an expression, such as a phrase or sentence, are described. The present invention is applicable in particular to interactive multilingual phrasebooks provided by a computer system, such as a pocket-sized hand-held device or a mobile phone.
The automation of language translation has attracted considerable interest over the last decades. This interest is fuelled by a constantly growing demand for translations as the world is growing together not only because of world-wide business activities. A large number of phrasebooks have been printed for assisting, for example, travellers who do not speak the language of a country that they are travelling. Phrases in phrasebooks are generally arranged in a thematic hierarchy with respect to topics, such as xe2x80x9clodgingxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ceatingxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ctransportationxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csightseeingxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9centertainmentxe2x80x9d, for example. The variety of phrasebooks is increasingly enriched by interactive electronic phrasebooks that are embodied as pocket-sized hand-held devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,498 to Maruta et al discloses a data processing device that translates specific phrases into corresponding phrases in another language or that retrieves specific phrases containing words, comprising a phrase storing unit for storing phrases each consisting of one or more words in a state that label data relating to the phrase is attached to the phrase, a retrieval word input unit for inputting a retrieval word, a label data retrieving unit for retrieving a phrase with the same label data as the retrieval word from among the phrases in the phrase storing unit, a display unit, and a display control unit for controlling an operation of the display unit for displaying the phrase retrieved by the label data retrieving unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,386 to Kaplan et al discloses a computerized multilingual translation dictionary comprising a set of words and phrases for each of the languages it contains, and a mapping that indicates for each word or phrase in one language what the corresponding translations in the other languages are. The set of words and phrases for each language are divided up among corresponding concept groups based on an abstract pivot language. The words and phrases are encoded as token numbers assigned by a word-number mapper laid out in sequence that can be searched fairly rapidly with a simple linear scan. The complex associations of words and phrases to particular pivot language senses are represented by including a list of pivot-language sense numbers with each word or phrase. The preferred coding of these sense numbers is by means of a bit vector for each word, where each bit corresponds to a particular pivot element in the abstract language, and the bit is ON if the given word is a translation of that pivot element. Then, to determine whether a word in language 1 translates to a word in language 2 requires a bit-wise intersection of their associated bit-vectors. Each word or phrase is prefixed by its bit-vector token number, so the bit-vector tokens do double duty: they also act as separators between the tokens of one phrase and those of another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,711 to Seno et al discloses a language information processing apparatus for translating a model phrase in a first language into a corresponding second language and outputting the translated phrase. The apparatus includes a display that displays the phrase, an input device for inputting a character or a word to be added in the first language to the phrase displayed by the display, a first voice information storage device that stores voice information in the second language corresponding to the phrase, and a second voice information storage device that prepares and stores voice information concerning the character or word in the first language with an intonation in the first language, which character or word is input by the input device. The apparatus further includes a translation instruction device for instructing the translation of the phrase containing the character or the word in the first language, which character or word has been added by the input device, and a voice information reading device that reads the voice information in the second language corresponding to the phrase from the first voice information storage device under instruction from the translation instruction device, and reads the added character or word in the first language from the second voice information storage device.
Although considerable progress has been made, numerous problems remain to be solved not only because of complexity of human language.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and it is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved method and an improved system that enable a user to build a variety of useful sentences in a language that the user has no knowledge of.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and a system that enable the user to build a considerable number of sentences from a limited stock of source sentences.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and a system that implement an interactive multilingual phrasebook that guides the user through the process of generating a desired expression in a selected target language.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and a system that enable the user to monitor the process of generating the expression in the target language in the user""s own language.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multilingual phrasebook that combines the conventional way of using a phrasebook with an interactive way of using the phrasebook.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent hereinafter.
To achieve these objects, the present invention provides a method and system that utilize a collection of predefined core sentences in a source language, that may be initially accessed through a thematic hierarchy or through a key word. New sentences may be recursively elaborated through transformations of a selected core sentence, that comprise substitution and expansion. In accordance with the present invention, the method and system automatically handle syntactic modifications of an interlingual structure, that are implied by a selected transformation. Each transformation establishes a valid new sentence in the source language. The method and system further generate a corresponding translation into any available target language.
The method and system may be implemented on a variety of data processing systems, thus, substituting prior-art electronic phrasebooks, and propelling novel interactive multilingual phrasebooks.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides an interactive method of generating an expression in a target language, wherein said method comprises providing a source expression in a source language, said source expression comprising at least one item and having a corresponding interlingual representation; outputting said source expression to a user; in response to receiving a transformation instruction from said user, transforming said source expression in accordance with said transformation instruction, and outputting said transformed source expression to said user; generating a corresponding interlingual representation to said transformed source expression; generating, from said corresponding interlingual representation of said transformed source expression, a target expression in said target language; and outputting said target expression.
The preferred embodiment provides a method in accordance with one aspect wherein said method comprises, in response to receiving a selection instruction from said user, selecting an item in said source expression.
In another aspect, the preferred embodiment provides a method wherein said item is selected in response to said user clicking on said item.
In yet another aspect, the preferred embodiment provides a method wherein said step of transforming comprises substituting said selected item with a substitution; or expanding said selected item with an expansion.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment provides a method in accordance with another aspect wherein said method comprises providing a list of substitutions or expansions; and, in response to receiving a list selection from said user, selecting said substitution or expansion from said list.
The preferred embodiment also provides a method in accordance with still another aspect wherein said method comprises, in response to receiving a repetition instruction from said user, repeating said steps of transforming and outputting said transformed source expression.
In two further aspects, the preferred embodiment provides a method wherein said steps of outputting an expression comprise displaying the expression, and a method wherein said steps of outputting an expression comprise reading the expression.
The preferred embodiment provides a method in accordance with another aspect wherein said method comprises providing a plurality of languages; and, in response to receiving a language selection from said user, selecting said target language from said plurality of languages.
The preferred embodiment provides a method in accordance with yet another aspect wherein said method comprises providing a plurality of source expressions in said source language.
The preferred embodiment also provides a method in accordance with still another aspect wherein said method comprises, in response to receiving a key item from said user, generating, from said plurality of source expressions, a list of source expressions related to said key item; outputting said list of source expressions; and, in response to receiving an expression selection from said user, selecting, from said list of source expressions, said source expression to be provided.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment provides a method in accordance with another aspect wherein said method comprises arranging said plurality of source expressions into a thematic hierarchy; outputting said plurality of source expressions in accordance with said thematic hierarchy; and, in response to receiving an expression selection from said user, selecting, from said plurality of source expressions, said source expression to be provided.
The preferred embodiment also provides a method in accordance with still another aspect wherein said method comprises associating at least one instruction with an iconic representation; and displaying said iconic representation.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a computer program product, for use in a computer system, having computer-executable instructions adapted to enable said computer system to perform a method in accordance with any of the above-described aspects.
In the preferred embodiment, the present invention further provides a system, for use in a computer system, for interactively generating an expression in a target language, wherein said system comprises means for providing a source expression in a source language, said source expression comprising at least one item and having a corresponding interlingual representation; means for outputting said source expression to a user; means for, in response to receiving a transformation instruction from said user, transforming said source expression in accordance with said transformation instruction, and outputting said transformed source expression to said user; means for generating a corresponding interlingual representation to said transformed source expression; means for generating, from said corresponding interlingual representation of said transformed source expression, a target expression in said target language; and means for outputting said target expression.
The preferred embodiment provides a system in accordance with one aspect wherein said system comprises means for, in response to receiving a selection instruction from said user, selecting an item in said source expression.
In another aspect, the preferred embodiment provides a system wherein said item is selected in response to said user clicking on said item.
In yet another aspect, the preferred embodiment provides a system wherein said means for transforming comprises means for substituting said selected item with a substitution; or means for expanding said selected item with an expansion.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment provides a system in accordance with another aspect wherein said system further comprises means for providing a list of substitutions or expansions; and means for, in response to receiving a list selection from said user, selecting said substitution or expansion from said list.
The preferred embodiment also provides a system in accordance with still another aspect wherein said system comprises means for, in response to receiving a repetition instruction from said user, causing said means for transforming and outputting said transformed source expression to repeat said transforming and outputting, respectively.
In two further aspects, the preferred embodiment provides a system wherein said means for outputting an expression comprise means for displaying the expression, and a system wherein said means for outputting an expression comprise means for reading the expression.
The preferred embodiment provides a system in accordance with another aspect wherein said system further comprises means for providing a plurality of languages; and means for, in response to receiving, a language selection from said user, selecting said target language from said plurality of languages.
The preferred embodiment provides a system in accordance with yet another aspect wherein said system comprises means for providing a plurality of source expressions in said source language.
The preferred embodiment also provides a system in accordance with still another aspect wherein said system comprises means for, in response to receiving a key item from said user, generating, from said plurality of source expressions, a list of source expressions related to said key item; means for outputting said list of source expressions; and means for, in response to receiving an expression selection from said user, selecting, from said list of source expressions, said source expression to be provided.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment provides a system in accordance with another aspect wherein said system comprises means for arranging said plurality of source expressions into a thematic hierarchy; means for outputting said plurality of source expressions in accordance with said thematic hierarchy; and means for, in response to receiving an expression selection from said user, selecting, from said plurality of source expressions, said source expression to be provided.
The preferred embodiment also provides a system in accordance with still another aspect wherein said system comprises means for associating at least one instruction with an iconic representation; and means for displaying said iconic representation.
Furthermore, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a system that is comprised in a pocket-sized hand-held device.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate, an aspect or aspects of a particular embodiment may be combined with an aspect or aspects of another embodiment.